WARRING STATES PERIOD, 5TH-4TH CENTURY BC

The present belt hook is exceptional for its large size, heavy weight, and fine quality of the inlaid decoration. A smaller gold and silver-inlaid belt hook, also decorated with intertwined dragons, is illustrated by B. Karlgren, ‘Chinese Agaffes in Two Swedish Collection,’ Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 38, Stockholm, 1966, pl. 39. Compare, also, the faceted bronze belt hook decorated in gold and silver inlay with similarly rendered intertwined dragons, illustrated by J. M. White and E. C. Bunker in the catalogue for the exhibition, Adornment for Eternity: Status and Rank in Chinese Ornament, Denver Art Museum, 1994, p. 189, no. 101.